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Plane disappears in Lake Michigan with local man onboard

Emanuel Manos and Randy Dippold of Perry were onboard when it went into Lake Michigan, the sheriff confirmed.

FRANKFORT, Mich. — We now know the names of the men on board a plane that's been missing since Sunday.

Emanuel Manos and Randy Dippold of Perry were onboard when it went into Lake Michigan, the sheriff confirmed.

The plane left Ontonagon and was heading to Monroe when the Coast Guard says a report came in that it was experiencing engine problems. Controllers then directed it to an airport in Frankfort when it vanished.

Crews have been searching the waters of Lake Michigan in Benzie County for the past few days trying to find the single-engine Beechcraft 35 Bonanza plane. The Sheriff says the plane probably went down three to four miles off the coast of Frankfort, where the water can be 300 to 600 feet deep.

"We don't know exactly where this plane, if it went in the water or if it maybe crashed on land. So that's why we're expending all possibilities to look for it," Benzie County Sheriff Ted Schendel said.

So far there's no sign of it. The Sheriff says volunteers were out searching today and more will be combing the coastline tomorrow. They're hoping someone, somewhere finds something.

"If the public comes across it, a fisherman out on Lake Michigan, we've got other people trail hiking and things like that, so we're hoping that we can come up with it," Sheriff Schendel said.

The family told Fox 47's Megan Hiler that Dippold was 65 and had been flying planes since he was 16 years old. They say he was a man of integrity, was quiet, generous, and loving.

The sheriff says state police will be bringing an autonomous submarine sometime within the next week to search the waters.